UAE: The European football market grew in 2012/13, to exceed $25billion in revenue for the first time.
It was driven by an increase of almost $1 billion across Europe’s big five leagues, whose combined revenues passed $12 billion England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.
“This year has again seen the European football market grow, to exceed $25bn for the first time. Looked at in the context of the wider economic climate this is a fantastic growth story, with the size of market growing by over 60% in the last 10 years,” Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business group at Deloitte, said.
The largest increase this year was seen in the English Premier League, which grew revenues to total $3.8bn. The Premier League is now, by over $1bn, the world leader in football in revenue terms, with more growth forecast.
“Once again the global appeal of the Premier League continues to drive revenue growth, particularly at the highest ranked clubs. We estimate that Premier League clubs’ revenue will have increased to around $5.5billion in 2013/14, driven by the revenue from the first season of the league’s new broadcast deals and further commercial revenue growth at the biggest clubs,” Jones, said.
Revenue growth was seen across all of the ‘big five’ European leagues. The second highest revenue generating league in Europe, the Bundesliga, saw Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund account for over 80% of its increase to $2.6billion. La Liga saw an increase to $2.4billion, primarily driven by new broadcast deals, whilst in Italy, Juventus accounted for over three quarters of Serie A’s revenue growth, with a league total of $2.2billion.
The fastest rate of growth was seen in France’s Ligue 1, driven entirely by Paris Saint-Germain. For the second consecutive season the club accounted for all of the league’s growth. Ligue 1 now has total revenue of $1.7billion.
The Middle East continues to play an important part in the European football story, most notably through commercial partnerships. For example, the increased revenues seen at Abu Dhabi owned Manchester City, along with their rivals Manchester United accounted for over half of the revenue growth seen in the Premier League in 2012/13.
“The ability of European football to remain relatively immune, in aggregate terms, from the wider European economic pressures has been due largely to the global appeal of its leagues and clubs. Attracting broadcast audiences, sponsors and owners from outside Europe has been key, with the Middle East clearly one of the major markets for achieving this. This season has seen the English, French and European Champions all have Middle East based shirt sponsors,” Alexander Thorpe, Consultant in the Sports Business Group, said.
The ‘big five’ leagues showed relative restraint in terms of wage cost expenditure in 2012/13, with only 25% of the cumulative revenue growth being absorbed by wage cost increases. Four of the five leagues reported static or improving wages/revenue ratios, the exception being the Premier League.
Premier League wage costs continue to mirror its revenue advantage, considerably exceeding those of the other ‘big five’ leagues. Wage costs increased to $2.7bn, outstripping the rate of revenue growth, resulting in a wages/revenue ratio of 71%, it’s highest ever level.